This chain of events seams to be a motif for certain regions in Europe. It dates back to the 15th century and has inspired both literature and movies in the last decades.
It is linked to the belief that the vampires are infected by a disease that is spread from one undead to the others in his vicinity. Lore has it that after the burial the vampire will spend the days chewing away at its own shroud and then pass to the dead close to it thus infecting them and enabling them to turn into vampires as well.
At night, the vampire would leave his shroud near his grave and would put it back on when returning to the resting place. Without it he or she wouldn`t be able to return to its grave.
The common legend about this specific type of vampire is that it was always found and slain because of this piece of cloth.
Mainly… when the villages would confront themselves with such issues they would set up watch in the tower of the church [keep in mind that we are talking about the Middle Ages so the cemetery was near the church]. The grave of the vampire would be found because it would be the marked by a shroud.
The villagers would either deal with the vampire during the day or the watchman would steal the shroud during the night and then dispose of the vampire upon its return.
In either case the nearby graves would be inspected also.

A similar story is captured by Goethe in his ~Dance of Death~. His ballad is about a watchman who looks down on the churchyard at midnight from the top of the church tower. He sees how the dead are leaving their tombs and take off their shrouds joining in a “Dance of the Dead”.
The watchman sneaks down, steals one of the shrouds and climbs back up.
After the dance, all the dead put on their shrouds and go back to their graves except for the one whose shroud has been stolen.
When he is confronted by the watchman the vampire starts climbing the tower wall. When he has almost reached the top, the tower clock strikes one so since the witching hour is over and the dead man falls down.

An episode that matches this one may be found in “Carmilla” by Sheridan La Fenu and in the screen adaptation “The vampire lovers” [1970].
In the opening scene of the movie we are presented with a specter leaving the grave and going hunting into the nearby tavern. When it returns it is provoked by a nobleman that stole its shroud and it makes its way to the church.
It is revealed that the vampire is an extremely attractive woman and the man is almost seduced by her. When she is about to feed on him she burns herself on the silver crucifix hanging by his neck and when the spell is broken he manages to fight her off and decapitate her.

In terms of vampire accounts I mention ~The Eywanschitz vampire~

๑۞๑ Related: ๑۞๑
† Superstitions
† Legends
† Vampire Accounts